Preoccupations
by Promised Flower
Summary: Atton x Exile fluff. They get arrested again and have some time to spare before their trial. What to do with it?


Case is the same Exile from my story "Unbreakable," which I am still working on.

Mainly Atton/Exile fluff. It just popped into my head one night. It's just a quick clip. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything below this point on the page. All characters, setting, everything belongs to Obsidian and LucasArts.

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**Preoccupations**

Atton leaned back against the cold, plasteel wall behind him and sighed in frustration. "Can't we do _anything_ but get thrown into a cell? Maybe bargain our way out of something before getting arrested for once?" he complained, stretching his legs out in front of him.

The cell he was currently being kept in was much larger than his normal force cage; this one was meant to keep prisoners for a long time. Not that he thought they couldn't escape, what with all the talent between the two of them. Atton glanced over at his companion, Case Roanoke, the Jedi who had trained him and most likely saved his soul from the fiery depths of hell.

At the moment she was sitting on one of the hard metal shelves that stuck out of the wall, supposedly serving as beds; they were so narrow that Atton would be hard pressed to stay on one while he slept, much less a larger man than him. Case's legs were crossed in front of her and she looked fairly serene. He wasn't fooled; she was absolutely livid at getting caught… again. It would once again put off their mission, and that was something he knew Case was getting tired of real fast.

"Hey, relax; if you knew what other kind of cages they could have put us in, you wouldn't be so uptight," Atton said casually.

In truth, he believed they would be fine so long as no one found out who or what they were. As far as Atton knew, the law officials or whoever imprisoned them had no clue. They were just mad that their supply room had been so easily infiltrated, the usual.

Case's eyes flew open and her serenity vanished without a trace. "Yeah, you're right. When you think of it that way, we should be happy to be here, right? Hell, why not just stay here; we'll just be imprisoned again in about two days anyway," Case said, flipping her arms wildly about. Atton cocked his eyebrow at her sarcastic tone and her erratic gestures.

"What's got your skivvies in a twist?" he asked, bringing his arms up to rest behind his head. He grinned as he thought of her in only her skivvies, like the first time he saw her.

"Knock it off," Case hissed, a blush rising to her cheeks as she glared at him.

"What?" he asked innocently, barely suppressing his grin. It was so _easy_ to make her turn beet red. Like shooting tak in a cage, to use a common expression

"You know what," she accused.

Feeling mischievous, Atton grinned wolfishly at her. "I'll tell you what I know," he said, surging off of the "bed" and onto his feet. He strode slowly toward her, his gait arrogant, grin widening.

"This should be _fascinating_," she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"For someone who's so against ending up with a scoundrel, you sure spend an awful lot of time with me," he said, stopping when he reached her. He let his knees bump against hers, amused as he watched her pull away, blood flowing quickly to her face.

Case scowled at him as she backed up on the bed. "I'm not the smuggler who keeps getting us arrested!" she shot back, no doubt referring to him tripping the alarm earlier, "If you weren't such a gamorrean-brained, flea-bitten nerf herder…"

Atton moved forward as she retreated until her back hit the wall behind her. He rested one arm against the wall, leaning in toward her to leave only an inch or so of space between them, sliding one leg forward until his knee touched the wall, blocking her other side.

Her face was now redder than a laigrek's eye as she glared at him with enough intensity to sever his head from his body. That entertained him to no end. Messing with her was one of his favorite pastimes, recently.

"That's another thing; you always protest so strongly when I get close to you. I think you're a little _too_ against it, if you get my meaning," he said, winking slyly at her.

"You wish," she retorted.

"Admit it; you're hot for me," he said, grinning again.

Just as he knew it would, his comment riled her up, deepening the crimson shade of her face. Case open her mouth in shocked protestation.

"I am _not_!" she nearly shrieked.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone. Not that the others don't already know. It's not easy to resist someone like me," Atton said.

Case snorted, which was not the exact response he had wanted. "Watch me," she said, looking at him challengingly.

The corners of his mouth quirked as he thought about that challenge. "You have no idea what I can do, Exile," he said, his voice low and smooth.

Swallowing visibly, Case shot him what was supposed to be a withering glare, but that ended up more of a nervous glance. Not wanting to lose ground, Atton moved his mouth to her ear, whispering to her, making sure his lips brushed the sensitive skin there. He felt her shiver against the inside of his thigh that was pressed to her leg.

"I didn't catch a word you said," she ground out, her teeth clenched.

That had been the plan; it was so much better if she _imagined_ what he might have said to her. "Oh? Then why are you blushing?" he murmured louder.

"Because your stupidity just sucked all the air out of here," she said in a clipped tone.

Atton chuckled deep in his chest. He liked their back and forth insults; it gave him something to look forward to during the day. He had learned just what buttons to push to get her to respond, and when those stopped working he tried new things. Like now.

He smiled against her ear, gently running his teeth over her earlobe. She gasped sharply and jerked, the side of her head colliding with his arm. Atton caught her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as he slid closer to her, trying to keep her balanced, surprised at her reaction. He should have known she wasn't used to that kind of thing.

Case was now pinned to his chest, her eyes on his, biting her bottom lip as she always did when nervous or perplexed. He suspected it was both at the moment.

"Why do you do things like this to me? Just for fun?" she hissed irately. Her hands were resting near his neck, trying to keep some sort of distance between herself and the smuggler who had her clasped against him.

"You can't deny you love it," he said, his low voice teasing her.

Without warning, Atton felt himself being pushed back, both with muscular strength and the Force. His back hit the wall on the other side of the small room with a thud. He blinked in surprise as he saw the still-red face of the Jedi Exile very close to his. She had a wolfish grin of her own that slid across her features while she watched a look of shock steal across his face.

"Really?" she said, her voice a mere growl.

"Uh…" Atton managed to choke out. _That_ was something he hadn't expected.

"Not so witty now," she murmured, "are you?"

Atton's mouth twitched with amusement. He didn't mind being pinned up against a wall by a pretty Jedi, not one bit. Maneuvering one leg so that it was behind her, Atton put his hands on her waist and whirled, sending her off balance, and then twisted so that she was the one pressed up against the plasteel wall.

He pushed his knees against hers to keep her from moving her legs. Her hands he pinned on either side of her head, gripping her wrists just tight enough to keep them there. They stood there, her glaring, him grinning, neither saying a word for several moments.

"Fungus-ridden bantha," Case called him, struggling against his grip.

When she moved, Atton became very aware of the soft curves pressed against his body. Her squirming heightened the sensation, causing fire to rain through his body until he was ready to take her then and there, but he held back; prison wasn't a great place to make a move on a Jedi, especially one as crazy as Case Roanoke.

He watched her as she frowned at him, knowing she could blow him through the wall if she wanted to. And yet she stood there, allowing him to trap her underneath him. His heart pounded erratically as her gray-blue eyes glanced cautiously into his brown ones. There was a spark there that Atton couldn't tear his gaze away from.

Without thinking it through, he rushed forward, receiving a shock as she too moved toward him. Their mouths met in an earth-shattering moment, sending fire and lighting through their veins and skidding across their skin. Atton swore he could hear triumphant horns blowing as they kissed, celebrating the moment.

Atton released her wrists and slid his hands along her arms, over her shoulders, and took her head in his hands as he kissed her, turning her head against his mouth to gain better access. He let his thumbs brush along her jaw, one hand traveling down to the base of her skull. To his surprise, Case wrapped her arms around his neck and yanked his body up against hers. His knees slid off of hers, one leg ending up between her thighs, the other near her side. He kissed her slowly at first, delighting in every movement of her mouth against his. He then pulled away a centimeter, slightly out of breath.

His mouth moved to her jaw, kissing gently, then moving toward the other side of her face, his lips brushing the tip of her nose as he moved down to her neck. He kissed the hollow of her throat, eliciting a small, involuntary noise of pleasure from her. His lips moved upward to the bottom of her jaw. She tilted her head back for him, closing her eyes as he doubled his administrations to her neck.

A moment later her hands pulled him back to her mouth. He felt her hands sliding through his hair, playing with it. He grinned into the kiss, hearing her growl in irritation as she kissed him harder. For someone who didn't do much lovemaking, Case was a surprise. She readjusted herself against him, creating unintended friction between their bodies.

Atton felt himself ready to let go of his inhibitions and fought to keep control, but with little success. At that moment she chose to run her nails gently down his for once jacket-less back, his ribbed jacket haven been taken from him upon his arrest. The sensation sent thrills of pleasure through him. He growled into her mouth and pressed himself harder against her, pushing his hips against hers.

Twisting his waist to create more friction, Atton received a gratifying gasp from the Jedi Exile. He could feel her body heat up against him. Suddenly he was at the edge; if he didn't stop there would be no going back, and he wasn't sure he wanted that to happen in jail. She was… special, and she deserved somewhere comfortable for her first time – which it would be, if she was to be believed.

Fighting to regain control, Atton forced himself to pull away from her, untangling all of his body parts from hers. His breathing was heavy as he looked at her. Her face was confused a she stood there, leaning against the wall, her arms still lowering to her sides from their hasty removal from his neck.

"What is it?" she asked, breathing as laboriously as he was.

Atton tried not to let his surprise show as he realized she didn't know just how close he had been to going further with her than she had gone before. He suspected she knew to some level what might happen, but not fully believing it; he was willing to bet that if she really knew, she would have stopped him. He shook his head at her and shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to keep himself from reaching for her again. She was standing there looking so enticing… _Knock it off_, he told himself sternly.

"Did…I do something wrong?" Case asked, her voice guarded.

Running a hand through his hair, Atton wondered if she would believe him if he told her just how _right_ she was doing everything. He shook his head to answer her, not trusting himself to speak just yet. In fact, she was suspiciously talented… He narrowed his eyes slightly at the thought.

"Are you sure you're a virgin?" he asked her, annoyed at how breathless his voice sounded when he spoke.

"Yes, I'm quite sure," she said testily, no doubt tiring of people doubting her word.

"Just checking," he said, taking a step back from her, not trusting himself to be close to her with how he was face became inexplicably angry. Atton gave her a quizzical look, wondering what had come over her. She glared at him icily as she crossed her arms tightly over her stomach.

"So I'm just boring you then, am I?" she said, brushing past him to return to her metal shelf.

"What?" Atton asked, completely taken aback. He turned with her as she moved away from him.

"I get it, Atton, really," she said, sitting down, returning to her meditation position.

"What do you get?" he asked, having no idea what she was talking about.

"You like more _experienced females_," she said, the last two words spoken with thinly disguised digust.

He stared at her, thunderstruck. Then he laughed; he couldn't help it, even as he knew it might only upset her more. The thought that he didn't want to be as close to her as possible… it wasn't even a possibility in his mind. Not to mention the idea of her being with anyone else damn near sent him into convulsions; the mere thought of some guy kissing her the way had just done or worse made his blood boil.

Case cocked an eyebrow at him before closing her eyes and settling into mediation, shutting him out.

"Hey, no," Atton said, striding over to her, mentally preparing himself to try to make her understand. His hands went to her shoulders. She opened her eyes to glare at him briefly before once again tuning him out.

"Don't get mad at me," he said said half upset that she was upset and half pleased that she was upset because she thought he didn't like her; because it _mattered_ to her how he felt.

"Go find a twi'lek girl to give you a massage or something," Case said absently, eyes still closed.

"I don't _like_ twi'leks," Atton said irately, shaking her shoulders to make her look at him, "I like y—"

"Ha!" Case said, brushing his hands off of her.

"What now?" Atton groaned.

"You like anything that wiggles in front of you and shows cleavage," Case sniped.

Atton briefly shuddered at the thought of the things he had seen with just that description that he most certainly did _not_ like. And not all of them were female either.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Atton said, shaking his head at her.

"Don't I? And I quote, "Let me handle this." That twi'lek had you wrapped around her head-tail in two seconds flat," Case accused, referring to the incident the previous night in the Nar Shadaa cantina.

Scowling, Atton began to lose patience with her. He took her by the shoulders again, brushing her hands away as she tried to push him away. "First of all," he began sternly, "I like things that keep me _preoccupied_, not specifically twi'leks. If you count the number of times you've seen me around a twi'lek and the times you've seen me playing pazaak, there's no comparison."

Case opened her mouth to argue, then closed it quickly, frowning at him. He did play pazaak an inhuman amount of time every day, often dragging her into it. And then quitting when she won.

"Second, lekku never did it for me," he said with a quick smile. "Third…" His mouth opened as it descended on hers, drawing her into him, his hands still grasping her shoulders.

He pulled back, looking pointedly at her. Case opened her eyes slowly.

"Oh."

Atton raised his eyebrows at her. _Oh?_ That was all?

"I see," she said thoughtfully.

"Doubt it," Atton growled.

Case suddenly slid out of his grip and kissed him on the mouth. Her eyes glinted as she gave him a half smile. "So, inexperience isn't so bad?" she asked dubiously.

"Hell, no," Atton blurted before he could stop himself.

Case smirked at him. "Really? Why is that?"

Atton scrambled for a response that would get him out of directly admitting how hard he had fallen for her. The timing wasn't quite right for her to understand that. Soon, though; preferably when they weren't incarcerated. "Well, what better teacher is there than me? I can show you things no one else can," he said seductively, grinning down at her.

Snorting, Case rolled her eyes at him and hit him on the shoulder.

Just then a voice crackled over the comm system. "Step away from the door and face the front of the room. You are to be taken to trail immediately," it drawled, sounding bored.

Atton glared at the officer standing outside the force field door. He wasn't sure how exactly they could get any farther away from the entrance, seeing as they were at the back wall. He suspected the guard simply regurgitated what they taught him in his training. Atton did as he asked and faced the door.

"Ready to do some fast talking?" he murmured softly to Case.

"I've got our excuse set. If I need to I think I can cry a little bit," she replied with a wink.

"This should be interesting," Atton muttered as the guard opened the door and walked toward them.

As they were escorted out of the cell and toward the court, Atton glanced down at the short woman next to him. He felt her hand brush against his, her fingers briefly holding his hand before letting go. He felt a smile creep onto his face at the thought of seeing her in action. The judge wouldn't know what hit him.

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